The Kingdom
Author's Note The plot portrayed in this story is based off of the plot seen in the book "1984" by George Orwell. However, this book focuses more heavily on both sides and the strife of both side to win the war as opposed to the single side portraying the tyrannical practices. Anybody who finds this book to be a good read may also enjoy 1984. Background Information Characters Main Characters Richard Cannonwalker – One of the last remaining pirates and the former King of Nepal (before its conquer at the hands of British-Indian forces). He is a member of the URK. He is friends with many, including Jeremiah Garland, Jim Logan, and Jack Swordmenace, showing that he exudes a friendly disposition. Jeremiah Garland – Also known as “Vladimir I,” he is the Tsar of Russia. He is friendly with everybody within the IAKN and URK, and has notably good negotiation skills. Jack Swordmenace – A retired politician and soldier, previously serving for various militaries. He is now a Co-Chairman and Founder of the Underground Rebellion against the Kingdom (URK). He’s noted as being an excellent negotiator with a charismatic personality. Though he’s friendly with most, he closest friend is perhaps Jim Logan. Richard Goldvane – One of the last remaining pirates and brother of Cyrus Shah. He convinces his brother to include Persia in the IAKN, strengthening their forces. During the Age of Piracy, his charisma and leading ability made him a very well-known pirate. Matthew Blastshot – Leader of the Kingdom’s Secret Police. He is noted as being one of the best detectives in the world. He's also known for being a very good interrogator, torturing many of his prisoners half to, or to, death. The King – Also known as “George II," he is the Monarch of “The Kingdom.” Minor Characters Johnny Sea Slasher – One of the last remaining pirates and a Co-Chairman of the Underground Rebellion against the Kingdom (URK). Unlike Jack Swordmenace, many URK members relate to him in the fact that he’s been a pirate nearly his entire life. Cyrus Goldvane – The Shah of Persia and brother of Richard Goldvane. He’s very protective of his land and defends it from “The Kingdom,” but he is also unfriendly, so Persia is originally not included in IAKN. Parax/Mahmud I – The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Although Parax is supposed to be immortal and have various divine powers, they’ve been severely weakened after voodoo magic experiments by Great Britain mooted many of his magic sources. Cannonskull – Also known (uncommonly) by his real name, Mathias Mortemer Mick, he is a member of the URK and close friend of Richard Cannonwalker. Jim Logan – One of the last remaining pirates and a leader of the URK. He is a close friend of Richard Cannonwalker & Jack Swordmenace. Johnny Goldtimbers – The Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although he is not The King, Johnny Goldtimbers handles most of the day-to-day operations (such as handling rebellions) and speaks, in public, the decrees of The King. Albert Spark – A fugitive shop owner, operating his small secret shop in a proletariat neighborhood in London. Richard Venables – Leader of The King's Protection Force, assembled to act as full-time guards to The King (even though he rarely makes public appearances). Since the Protection Force rarely needs to be used, Venables also orchestrates public events (hangings, recreation, etc) for The King. Terminology Mind Criminal - An enemy of The Kingdom who is wanted for heretical ideas (ex: disliking The King, disliking The Kingdom, etc). Proletariat - A lower-class person; one without much wealth. These people make up somewhere around 70-80% of The Kingdom's population. Secret Police - A group of people issued by The King to catch mind criminals. The Great Upheaval - An event that took place at an unknown date in the early 1740s. The exact details of this event are unknown, since The Kingdom burnt all recorded documentation of the events pertaining to it, but it led to The Kingdom gaining an immense amount of power, killing off most pirates (and sending a few into hiding) and annexing much of the world. The Great War - A war happening throughout the story between The Kingdom and the remaining independent nations. Evanescense - The process in which a Mind Criminal is taken away by the Secret Police and their existence is wiped from history. Factions The Kingdom – One of the two dominant world powers following the Great Upheaval, which weakened various other countries to be taken. The leader is “The King,” uncommonly referred to as “John Breasly” or “George II.” The Prime Minister is Johnathan Goldtimbers. IAKN – Standing for “The Independency of Anti-Kingdom Nations,” and is sometimes referred to as “The Independency.” It is an alliance between the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, and, later, the Persian Empire. They united themselves after the Great Upheaval, in which Great Britain conquered most of the world. URK – Standing for “The Underground Rebellion against the Kingdom.” It is a group mostly composed of Pirates and former British citizens whose goal is to overthrow “The Kingdom” and severely weaken their power. Theirs leaders are Jack Swordmenace and Johnny Sea Slasher. Plot Summary The story takes place sometime in the near future, where two political powers have managed to rule most of the entire known world. These groups are The Kingdom, also known as Great Britain, and the IAKN, an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Nepal against The Kingdom. It is believed to be in the mid-late 1750s, though since the tracking of years has become obsolete to The Kingdom and proclaimed by them to be “dangerous to the majority” to know, it is not certain this is correct. There is also URK, a group composed mostly of Pirates and former British citizens whose goal is to weaken The Kingdom and re-instate independence among the territories conquered. They have difficulty protesting, however; this is because they are forced to retreat by the police and military every time they publicly revolt. The Kingdom seeks to invade and conquer all of IAKN, thus instating themselves as the rulers of the entire known world. The IAKN and the URK have teamed up in hopes of defending themselves from, as Jack Swordmenace puts it, “the tyranny of King John.” Part I “Over the duration of the war against the tyranny portrayed by The Kingdom, I feel as though our forces aren’t strong enough to overcome the strength held together by the glue of the fear exuding from the citizens of The Kingdom. Though it seems most of them do not like The Kingdom, most of them are also afraid of what The King would do to them if they were to ever revolt against him. Perhaps it will not be our forces that ultimately conquer The Kingdom, but an absence of ignorance from the citizens of The Kingdom. Though I’m not sure if most hate The Kingdom or that they believe that they are living a relatively free life in The Kingdom, we can only hope fate has the former in store for our future.” Chapter I It wasn’t a particularly bright and shiny day for most in London, but not a particularly bad day either. Considering that most in London were living in a sad, dirty city dictated by a tyrant, it was only normal that bad days were a daily custom. Although most days were bad days, the unsuspecting citizens had been tricked into believing that these bad days brought upon them after the start of the Great War were simply a small sacrifice on their part for the protection of the Kingdom’s soldiers fighting in enemy nations. A particularly bad day would be the day of an invasion upon their homeland, most of which would continue for a few days without stop. There was once even an invasion that lasted for an entire week, reducing the population of coastal areas by thousands. Although the fatalities caused by the Independency of Anti-Kingdom Nations does not quite meet the fatalities caused upon them by The Kingdom, they don't cease to exaggerate the numbers in order to make their citizens more excited for the war. The legitimate fatalities caused by the Independency are around 10,000, while the legitimate fatalities The Kingdom has caused sits around 16,000. They exaggerates these numbers by telling their ignorant fear-induced citizens that The Independency has only caused around 1,000 fatalities, while they themselves claim to have killed off around 30,000 of the enemy’s soldiers. These are the kinds of statistics that The Independency fights The Kingdom for; the constant droning of falsehoods ringing inside of each and every citizen of their enemy. All across The Kingdom were large posters with the same painting of The King on them; one of him glaring at those below him. The posters read: THE KING IS PROTECTION THE KING IS KINDNESS THE KING IS HONESTY THE KING IS WATCHFUL No matter what angle you looked at these posters from, The King’s eyes always seemed to be following you; they seemed to follow you as though… they truly WERE watching you. There was once an incident in London where somebody tore down a poster in protest, and they were taken away by the Police. To this day, only a couple of months later, his fate is still unknown. Traitors were typically taken away, their existence wiped from history. Anybody who asked where they had gone to would be reported to the Police and taken away as well. This process is commonly referred to as “evanescence.” However, there have been rare occasions where the person would return about a year or two later. Whenever this happened, they would confess to their crimes, apologize whole-heartedly, and return to their normal life. These people also all had something in common; they all had a large brand of the letter “C” on their right cheek. These people were often avoided and became societal outcasts. On the particular night of March 12, in Hyde Park, there was to be a public hanging of war criminals believed to have been conspirators with URK, an underground group meant to overthrow The King from power. Members of the military stood around the gallows to prevent excited citizens from attacking the conspirators. A few military men took the conspirators to the gallows to be hung. They were all placed by an individual noose while a man stood up on the gallows with a scroll. This man was known simply as “the executioner”; he handled all of the public hangings that took place in London. The executioner glanced over at the conspirators with a look of disgust, and then looked back at his scroll as he unraveled it. He glanced back over at the conspirators once again with disgust before clearing his throat. “SILENCE, ALL!” The executioner said. The crowd of people quickly silenced, for they knew they could be punished for not silencing. “We have gathered in Hyde Park on this particular evening, the evening of March 12th, to watch the fatalities of these two war criminals. While I read these… repulsive heathens ''their crimes,'' you may all receive perishable goods from the merchant stands around you.” The executioner said. Many of the commoners gathered around the food stands and received snacks, such as crumpets and coffee, as the man on the gallows walked up to the first conspirator. “You disgust me, imbecile.” The executioner whispered to him. “I’m used to it; now read me my charges, fool.” The criminal replied. The executioner grunted and shifted his eyes down the scroll a bit. “Richard Goldvane, is it?” He asked. “Obvious. That would be me, yes.” The criminal replied. “It says here that you’re the brother of Cyrus Shah, an enemy of ours. That will only make your death more satisfying, gremlin.” The executioner said. “Read me my crimes or being quiet, hairy brute.” Richard responded. “If you insist…” The executioner said. “Richard Goldvane, Captain of the Green Runner, brother of… Cyrus… your crimes are as follows…” He said, taking a pause. “Get on with the reading already, dunce. We don't have all day here” Richard said with a wink. The executioner looked astonished at Richard, as though he had committed some act that could be considered taboo. “As I was saying… your charges are as follows: multiple accounts of theft, multiple accounts of murder, arson, impersonation, piracy, and the worst of them all, conspiring'' against the King.” The executioner said. “Not a problem at all. Oh, and don't forget the time I stole his crumpet.” Richard casually responded. The man grunted at Richard, then walked over to the other criminal. “Mathias Mortemer Mick is your name, yes?” The man questioned. “Technically, yes, but I’m typically referred to as Cannonskull.” The criminal said. “Well, I’m not your comrade, now am I?” The executioner questioned. “I suppose you’re not.” Cannonskull said. “Your crimes are as follows: Multiple accounts of armed robbery, multiple accounts of murder, piracy, and conspiring against the King!” The executioner said. The entire crowd started to boo wildly at the criminals. Some shouted at the executioner to hang them already and stop stalling, and some in the crowd even threw food at the criminals. A banana hit Goldvane in the face. He attempted to bite some of it, but to no avail. The food throwing continued. However, the military officers made them stop as to keep the streets clean. “If you plan on tossing food, toss it in the waste containers located on every street, not at the criminals. We must all do our part to keep the streets clean.” One of the officers said. “The Executioner will handle the dirty work.” Then, three men in the crowd stepped a bit forward and immediately caught the attention of a few military officers. Two of the men had muscular builds, but one was a bit scrawnier. Each of the men wore brown hoods and appeared to have concealed swords. One of the military officers stepped out of line for a moment as the executioner was putting the nooses around the criminals’ necks. He squinted closely around the men’s belts, seeing concealed swords underneath their robes. “Just what do you two think you’re doing?! You shouldn’t be able to access weapons; the King banned weapons for commoner access a long time ago!” The officer said to the three men. The three men paid no attention to the officer and continued to watch the hanging about to take place. “Are you three ''hearing me?! You can’t have those weapons because-“ The three men pulled out their swords and attacked the officer, wounding him severely. All of the citizens panicked and began to frenzy, distracting the rest of the guards. The three men walked up on to the gallows, only to be stopped by the executioner. “Just what do you degenerates think you’re doing? You’ve interrupted the public hanging!” The executioner said. One of the men pushed the executioner off the gallows. “You came back for us?” Richard questioned the men. “Yes. We would never leave a fellow rebel behind.” One of the muscular hooded men said. “We should get back to the pub; there are important matters to discuss with some rebel country leaders.” Chapter II The five men were running away from a few military officers. Fortunately for them, most of the officers were still attempting to calm the frenzy of frightened citizens in the middle of the park. The rebels weren’t very far from the officers; only about forty yards, if that. However, these officers were not particularly great at their job; their aim was off and, therefore, missed every single rebel with each shot. Eventually the officers ran out of musket ammo and attempted to catch the rebels on foot instead of shooting them, but this did not work. Eventually the tired, undertrained officers had to stop due to their lack of physical fitness and collapsed out of fatigue while chasing the rebels. After another eight hundred metres or so, the rebels reached the “Dinky Bog” tavern, a small place in one of the proletarian neighborhoods. In The Kingdom, social rankings separated the neighborhoods in which people lived; higher-ups, such as royalty and nobles, lived in nicer neighborhoods. The middle class, composed of lower political officials and military personnel, lived in moderately nice homes in moderately nice neighborhoods. The proletariats, however, lived in dirty, poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods. However, the proletarian neighborhoods were less influenced by the Secret Police and therefore the ideal place for rebellions to begin and for rebel groups to meet up in. Proletariats built up about 70% of The Kingdom's population. The group of rebels entered the tavern, greeted to the sounds of drunken commoners knife-fighting and the smells of stale urine and alcohol breath. In one of the corners was a group of people sitting and discussing something; they were all wearing brown hoods, signifying that they were part of the rebellion as well. “This tavern smells eerily similar to the home I grew up in.” One of the hooded rebels said. This man was a muscular man, shorter than the other but taller than the scrawnier man. His name was Johnny Sea Slasher, one of the last remaining pirates and a Co-Chairman of URK. He had been raised from birth as a pirate and knows no other way of life, appealing to the pirates of URK. “Sounds like an interesting household.” Another one of the hooded men said. He was about as muscular as Johnny, but a bit taller. This man was Jack Swordmenace, a former British politician and a current Co-Chairman of URK. He advocates freedom and morality, which is why the URK holds elections to decide the two Chairmen and is bound to a moral code. Jack was, as his rival politicians once put it, “the embodiment of charisma.” Simply his presence draws people to his words and to his ideas, making it easy for him to get messages across. “Sounds… interesting.” The third hooded man said sarcastically. This man was Jim Logan, former Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea before the Great Upheaval disbanded the unity of pirates and left them numbered in the hundreds. Many notable pirates had either been killed or had simply disappeared; this included the legendary Jack Sparrow, who had simply disappeared and never been heard from since the beginning of the Great Upheaval. Jim grew up to a wealthy family and led a life of piracy by his own accord, not being relatable to many pirates in URK. Cannonskull looked over at Jack and Johnny. “Thank you for helping us out.” Cannonskull said. “It’s an obligation of the Rebellion to help its other members and those who need it in times of helplessness.” Jack said. “I thank you for helping me as well.” Richard told Jack. “I don’t believe we have met. My name is---Richard Goldvane.” Jack interrupted Richard, who seemed confused. “You’re one of the most wanted pirates in the state. Everybody knows you.” Johnny explained. “I'm not that popular, now am I?” Richard responded with a grin. “Is there any way I can repay you gents for freeing me?” Richard asked. “Though we usually don’t request help in return for our services, perhaps there’s a way you could repay URK… even if requesting services in return for our kindness seems a bit unorthodox.” Jack stated. “What kind of services?” Richard asked. “That will be revealed with time.” Jack responded. The group of rebels walked over to the group of hooded men sitting in the corner. The men stopped discussing whatever it was they were discussing and looked up at the others. “Welcome back, mates. You’ve brought back Cannonskull?” One of the sitting men asked. “Yes, and we’ve also brought back Richard Goldvane.” Johnny added. “One of the last pirates? The man scheduled to be hung today?” The sitting man said. “Aye, and I thank your group for helping me out. I’d be glad to return the favor whenever I can.” Richard stated. “Actually, Jack, don’t we have a thing we can have Richard---We’ll show him.” Jim said, interrupted by Jack. “Show me what, exactly?” Richard questioned. “It’s something about your brother, I believe.” Cannonskull stated. “Yes, it is. Now come gentlemen; we’ve got work to do.” Jack said. With a sudden eagerness, as if the hooded men sitting down lived only to take orders from Jack, they all stood up and stood near Jack. “We’ve got diplomatic matters to tend to.” Jack said. The men took their hoods off and stored them away in a small box in the corner of the room. In order to keep from seeming suspicious, the group kept their hoods in a small box in the tavern instead of at their homes; they rent the area in the tavern from the owner for one hundred pounds a month. The group left the tavern and began walking to another district for a meeting. On their way, they were stopped by a street patrol. “Just where ''might such a large group be going so late in the evening?” The patrolman asked. “We were late to go to the hanging tonight and were hoping to go there before it ended.” Jack said. “The hanging has already taken place. Now go back indoors.” The patrolman insisted. The group found it odd that a patrol officer would say that the hanging was over when it was quite obvious that the criminals had escaped. However, it was also much like the Kingdom to cover up these kinds of things. “Well, we were planning on attending a late-night event at the town square afterwards, so we could just go there early and---There will be no ‘going there early,’ chaps. Now go inside before you’re labeled as rebels.” The patrolman interrupted Johnny, persisting his point. It was no use; the patrolman didn’t want the group outside. The group exchanged glances and then did what they felt they needed to do; they pulled out their swords and quickly stabbed the patrolman. Cannonwalker and Cannonskull carried the patrolman’s body into the alley next to them; as this was taking place, a civilian walked by. The civilian looked at their activity and gave them a thumbs-up of approval, as if he would secretly do that himself if he could. The group of men quickly walked off, leaving behind the body of the patrol man. They didn’t run because running automatically made you a suspicious person, something punishable by death in The Kingdom. As they were fast-walking around the corner, they were stopped by a man. This man wore an entirely black wardrobe consisting of a black shirt, black jacket, black pants, and black boots. His outfit was armored to the extent in which it would take about five blunderbuss shots just to break it. This was the uniform of the Secret Police, a task force issued by The King to fight mind criminals and suppress heretical ideas. This particular member, who happened to be the leader of the Secret Police, was Matthew Blastshot. His naturally-stern face was easily recognized by most, as he was seen at the scene of almost every house-raid executed by the Secret Police. Though most of these raids happened secretly, in the night, many people saw them; some kids even asked their parents to stay up and look out the window to watch them. “What might you profligates be doing about these streets at such an outrageous hour? It’s nearly eight o’clock.” Matthew told them. The men froze, unsure of what to say. “We were going to the community centre; a backgammon tourney is beginning soon.”Jim said. “That’s incorrect; backgammon begins tomorrow. Draughts began 15 minutes ago.” Matthew said. “I ''do ''believe you meant to say you were going to play draughts, correct?” Matthew said. “Uh, uh, yes.” The men said, stuttering. “Good, now go on…''imbeciles.” Matthew said. The men walked slowly past Matthew, being sure not to trip or stutter, though they were all a bit nervous. Category:Fan Book Category:McKagan Productions Pieces Category:POTCO Category:POTCO Stories